Waltz With Me My Love
by Ruby2
Summary: Severus Snape meets his match with Laurel, an Egyptian Elf, one of the last of her kind who is summoned to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but ends playing a much larger role, especially in Snape's life.
1. The Arrival

Waltz With Me My Love by Ruby

J.K. ROWLING owns all characters except for Laurel who I created myself, I am not doing this for money, only the pure enjoyment of the thing. So ends my lame little disclaimer, okay? Don't sue!

Okay you guys I'm sorry not much Romance action because yes this IS a Snape Romance/Angst piece that is at LEAST PG-13, I just have to give a bit of background information and a begining for goodness sake since this will be an extremely LARGE work in progress if anyone even likes it, since this is the very first chapter of my ver first fic, so feedback feedback feedback! Via email or whatever!

********  
The airport was crowded and Laurel was irritated to no end. The smell of old socks seemed to come at her from every possible direction, the screaming of spoiled children assailed her ears, and the brushes of stranger's clothing as they slid past her to get into nearby lines was begining to wear her nerves thin. The people were speaking different languages but she could easily understand them all. Her bark-colored hair with intermingling strands of silver ran the length of her back and pooled near her forearms. By no means gorgeous, yet not ugly in the least, she thought of herself as semi-good looking, on good days that was. She kept retracing the dirtied carpet's diamond-shaped pattern with utter disgust.

"How can these people live without magic, it's enough to make a sane person mad," she sighed and was jostled by a short, balding man who grunted the faintest of apologies and continued down the line. 

'Apparently he's come away from the ticket counter unsatisfied,' she thought scathingly. She heaved another long sigh and proceeded to flip through her copy of the Daily Prophet. On the back of page 3 there was an article by Rita Skeeter regarding the infamous Harry   
Potter, that portrayed him to be still mourning over the loss of his parents.

"Hmm," she muttered to herself. "Quite uncharacteristic of 'the boy who lived'." However she shrugged off the idea quickly considering  
that being mentally and physically scarred, and having your family murdered by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was enough to bring anyone to their knees crying every night of their life.

Her reverie was quickly broken by the sharp prod of an oversized purse on her vertebrae. 

"You're next already!" growled an oversized and haggard looking housewife. Laurel glanced furtively at the woman while sidling up to the counter. Scuffed Reebok's, a Christmas-themed sweater set, and a white pleather purse was enough to make Laurel feel sorry for the woman and she turned her attention to the assistant.

"Name?!" he asked in a harried tone of voice.

"Laurel Millan," she answered. She had always been a perceptive girl and noticed the way he liked to fold his arms across his chest when he wasn't tapping on that incessantly beeping piece of Muggle equipment. It was a sure sign of insecurity and lack of self-esteem. She prided herself on her knowledge of complete strangers. The scent of his cologne was destroying her brain cells as she stood however and her lack of patience was growing by the minute.

"Ahh yes," he finally mumbled. "Your ticket is here, undisclosed location, private, first-class flight, am I right?" He blurted all this without a single glance in her general direction, which was directly in front of him.

"That is correct," she answered. She was clearly amused by the energy he was exerting to ignore that she was there. It wasn't that  
often that she had the pleasure of not being noticed. She started as white pieces of tree came spinning out of a gray plastic box to her  
left. The young assistant tore the tree out of the box and handed it to her quickly. Standing there she was reluctant to leave without saying thank you, but it was bad manners not to make eye contact with those whom you were speaking to, so she stood silently.

"Was there anything else ma'am?" the boy snapped, aligning a block of yellow-colored tree with the side of the desk. He finally glanced up and gasped. Blinking slowly she simply tilted her head to the side, taking in his more than bewildered expression. Mercifully a smile tugged at her lips and she lowered her eyes.

"I just wanted to say," she intoned as the young man backed away a few inches. "Thank you for your services." She didn't wait for an  
answer, just simply turned to head back down the line in order to pass through the security checks. As she did, a tsunami of silence came crashing down around her. She smiled grimly at the gawking group of Muggles, who had been impatiently waiting in the long line behind her and glided past them like a shark through water.

The sound of whispers echoed after her and she caught a few fragments. "Strangest thing ever...not human...childhood ailment?...  
...quite odd...freakish...mutant..."

She swiftly made her way through the security check, no doubt even if she _had_ been carrying something illegal they wouldn't have  
stopped her. Like a row of dominos, the three security guards mouths fell open as she waltzed by and exited the side door  
leading to the hangar where the jet supplied by her undisclosed patron awaited. As the glass door swung shut behind her, a whisper from the building escaped its entrapment, "...red eyes..."

********

Snape sourly looked down his large at nose as Neville Longbottom proceeded to ruin his third set of wolfs bane in one hour. The boy was in fact hopeless, nearly a Squib if you asked him. He proceeded to ignore the boy however and returned to writing his letter to Albus Dumbledore, explaining his reasons behind wanting to teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. The reasons however numerous could not take away the fact and the mark, that proved him wrong. The Dark Mark that proclaimed he belonged to Lord Voldemort no matter how you tried to get around it, it was true.

He grunted furiously at himself when he realized he had begun to draw doodles of himself strangling a faceless Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who was probably due to arrive at Hogwart's any day. He needed some way to vent his unwarranted anger and found it in the Three Musketeers that terrorized his morning Potions class.

"Potter, Weasley, Granger," he snapped irritably. "Stop snickering and get to work, that will be 15 points from Gryffindor - EACH." Mutters of protest bubbled up from the three, surprisingly mostly from the bushy-haired Ms. Granger herself.

"I was just trying to explain to them, the importance of reading Hogwart's, A History -" she mumbled.

"That's enough Ms. Granger!" he sneered. "Detention with Mr. Filch after school, _today_."

She gasped in defiance, spluttering, "But..but.. I have to go the library today! I only have one week to do my Muggle Studies report and I only have one roll of parchment!"

"Another _15_ points," Snape said leisurely. At this all the Gryffindor's in the room hissed vehemently at Hermoine, causing her protests to dwindle into low pitched grumblings.

Neville Longbottom approached Snape's desk discreetly and caught him off guard while doodling a very large T, that looked suspiciously like something drawn when you desired to play Hangman.

"What is it Longbottom!" he said, spinning quickly in his chair. The young boy cringed and wrinkled his pug little nose as if he'd smelt something bad. Reluctantly and wordlessly, he held out his 4th attempt at trying to extract the juices from the extremely large-veined wolfs bane plant. Snape felt the heat creeping up his neck and into his taught face without any sort of emotional registration. Breathing through his nose loudly he snatched the wolfs bane from the boy's quaking grip. Snape pointed a finger menacingly towards the expanse of the classroom.

"Sit...down..." he said viciously. "Do not _touch _or _do_ anything, do you understand?"

"Yes, Professor Snape!" the boy stuttered, as he tottered on unsteady legs back to his seat in the front row. Lowering himself into the desk, he tried hard not to breath too loud. He was happy, elated even, that he hadn't lost points for his house or managed to incur Snape's wrath too badly.

"Oh and Mr. Longbottom?" Snape said silkily, pushing his black hair away from his face.

"Yes, sir?" Neville cringed.

"50 points from Gryffindor," were the last words that echoed through the chamber before hollowed out wolfs bane plants came flying at the front row.

********

Laurel happily descended the steps of the iron bird she'd ridden across the ocean, waving obnoxiously to the flight attendant who had been blatantly staring at her the entire trip. She wasn't uncomfortable with being gawked at because of her "ailment" as Muggles liked to call it, but sometimes out of pure frustration she donned her dark, cat-eye glasses whose only purpose was to hide the crimson-colored eyes. After all, her people didn't need glasses in any form.

She looked around herself with a sense of dread creeping up and around her shoulders. She slowly shifted the sunglasses so that they were perched on the top of her head. She wouldn't be needing them now anyway, she was in strictly non-Muggle territory and she heard the flight attendant behind her scream in pain. She didn't bother to turn around. She had to save her energy, because chances were she wasn't going to get away from her current location alive.

With severe distaste she felt Him approaching. Laurel could feel his spirit apparating across the land, North? No, Northwest of where she stood rooted to the spot. She didn't dare move either, there was no escaping Him. Now that he was back, no one could escape Him. The stench of the Death Eater's souls filled her nose as well as her mind with millions of questions, but she was numb with fear and continued to surreptitiously inch her hand towards her purse. Within seconds it was ferociously yanked from her shoulder, tearing the edge of her Muggle blouse.

Whirling angrily she fixed her penetrating gaze upon the masked face of a Death Eater who stumbled over his own feet trying to back away, while the other who accompanied him sniggered until he too recieved the full wrath of her gaze.

The wind picked up then and the sky clouded over, a sign of trouble. Then He appeared and with him, 6 more of his masked minions. 

"Ah, Laurel my dear. Have a pleasant flight I hope?" Voldemort said without a hint of caring in his voice. "I was grateful you didn't ask many more questions about why 'Albus' wanted you to use Muggle technology to arrive at Hogwart's, my Death Eaters were getting quite tired of intercepting all those owls you insisted on sending."

"What is it you want _exactly_ Tom Riddle," she said maliciously.

He drew his breath sharply and snarled, "No one calls me that, you of all should know this Laurel. If I didn't have such a need for you I would dispose of you before your next breath was taken!"

"And _you_ of all people should know that I only speak the truth," was her cynical reply. "Do not presume to use empty threats against me, my people are the only ones that stand between your enemies and their alliance with the giants. Whether purposefully or not, we are the keys to the kingdom that you so desire."

Bristling for a moment, Voldemort's demeanor changed quickly back to his "caring" nature once again. "My dear," he simpered. "Let us not have this fight, we have gotten off on the wrong foot, am I right? Come, let one of my loyal servants get your bags and we will hold conference."

She glanced suspiciously at the two Death Eaters who began to approach her side, when they drew closer however their steps faltered.

"Well what is it?" snapped Voldemort impatiently. They scurried back to his side and whispered clandestinely into his ear. Something horrible came echoing out of Voldemort then, a laugh perhaps? A cackle? Either way it was most unpleasant.

"My uncultured, foolish, pathetic, idiotic minions," he said unkindly, as they nervously scurried over and grabbed Laurel's bags as if they were near a furnace. "Red eyes were not abnormal in the old days, although the reason for mine are not the same as hers. Egyptian Elves, though a dying breed, have been bestowed with extraordinary eyes and gifts. No matter how poorly used they are, I must give them that."

At this Voldemort motioned for her to follow him into the nearby farmhouse. 'Farmhouse?' she wondered to herself. 'Where am I?' Reluctantly she followed Voldemort, though the Death Eaters were afraid of her, they might just have the power to deliver one of the Unforgivable curses on her. She could not risk such a disaster, although messages had been intercepted by owl, she had spoken with Albus Dumbledore face to face about fulfilling the position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts proffesor, and classes had begun two days ago. The "so-called" arrangements via Muggle technology had been for her own "security" and it would delay her arrival, is what the returning owl had said.

Inside there was nothing but a crudely put together table and one splinter-ridden chair. He stopped in the middle of the room and gestured for her to sit.

Defiantly she raised her chin, "I prefer to stand."

The outstretched hand he had gestured with, slowly tightened and began to turn red from the pressure on his pasty skin. "Very well," he choked out through gritted teeth. He faced her in the half light that was cast in through the broken beams of the farm. "Perhaps we can get down to business. I have a proposition for you..."

Laurel's eyes positively flamed, "I will make no pact with you of any kind, Riddle."

The last thing she saw was the sun, as it streamed through the ceiling and onto her outstretched hand, and she fell into the darkness.

********

Voldemort's roar paralyzed her mind, "Everyone out, it's an ambush!" As did the sound of feet as they quickly moved across the straw floor of the barn. The beat of wings could be heard above the revving of the airplane's engines.

"Geez, did ye hav' ter go flyen' so close to the lil' lady?" a booming voice echoed in the darkness.

"Get off it Hagrid," came a muffled voice. "It was hard enough to hide an entire hippogriff on the airplane, not to mention your entire person! So a little-"

The voices cut off as Laurel groaned from her prostrate position on the ground. Her head and heart were pounding at an alarming rate and she it felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Glancing up she found two people staring at her, one that she almost mistook for an enormous bear of some sort, and then a tall man with greasy black hair who didn't seem at all shocked to see that her eyes were the color of flame, yet mildly interested.

However, for the first time in her life, she could not register a single thing about the lank-haired, slightly large-nosed, man. Everything he did and said contradicted each other, she registered that he was indeed cruel and yet somehow, he was also gentle. As he picked up with both hands, the large key ring that had fallen out of the larger man's coat pocket.

He finally turned her attention to her and it seemed he took her entire person in with one glance. 

"I thought Egyptian Elves were extinct," he said harshly.

A little taken aback she shook her head slowly from side to side. Why did she feel as if he was her father scolding her for something she had done horribly wrong?

"So you're filling _my_ job?" he said briskly, pushing his greasy hair out of his face. Ahh, so that was the chiding feeling. She opened to her mouth to speak but was kindly interrupted by Hagrid.

"Don' go mindin' Proffesor Snape o'er here, he' just a tad bit flushed aft'r losin' the job when he's gon an' appli'd for't so much," he interjected.

"I see," she mumbled as she rose, thanking for the large man for offering her a pinky up. "How did you know I would be here?"

The dark-haired Professor shot a warning look at Hagrid who quickly closed his mouth.

The Professor answered, "Dumbledore began to make... inquiries when he never recieved an owl from you asking how to get to Hogwart's. So he sent us to fetch you."

"I know that much, but how did you know WHERE I was?" she snapped, exasperated. Her two heroes exchanged another look and once again the man...Snape? Spoke.

"I think questions such as these are best answered by Dumbledore himself," was the quiet and slightly deadly response. "For now let us go, hopefully Buckbeak can carry all three of us safely to Hogwart's. Do you need help walking?"

"No," she muttered proudly and swayed towards the open wooden doors. "I can do it...just-" She was cut off by her descent into a pile of hay. She heard a snort come from the general direction of the Professor, but that seemed near impossible considering his overall attitude and somehow he didn't seem a likely canidate to laugh. However to her surprise, it was.

"Those are some nice moves there," Snape said bemusedly. "Hagrid go fetch Buckbeak, I think he's eating some of that filth we saw piled up against the barn door when we arrived. I'll help Ms...?"

"Ms. Millan," Laurel said with disdain. "Laurel Millan."

Snape sniggered again, "While I help Ms. Millan outside." Hagrid nodded and exited the dank barn, shuffling his large feet across the deteriorating straw to fetch Buckbeak, who could be heard devouring some foreign object outside.

"Come on stand up," Snape mumbled, grapsing Laurel around the waste and balancing her expertly against his side.

"This is so degrading," Laurel mumbled under her breath. Snape overheard it and made an audible tut-tut noise.

"Come now my dear girl, don't be embarrassed! You're quite the dancer from what I can see, that haystack never knew what hit it."

Laurel simply glowered at him and continued to stare down at her feet, which caused her to frequently lose balance and make Snape's job that much harder.

Grumbling he snatched her closer and grunted, "Come on now, synchronize here, don't look down, look at me, that's it... You've got it! waltz with me my love!" The unlikely twosome staggered out the door and into the awaiting sunlight...

********

TO BE CONTINUED IF ANYONE EVEN REMOTELY LIKES THE FIC 


	2. Hug 'O War

Chapter 2

J.K. ROWLING owns all characters except for Laurel who I created myself, I am not doing this for money, only the pure enjoyment of the thing. So ends my lame little disclaimer, okay? Don't sue!

More introduction stuff and begining to get into the romance soon enough :) R/R please!

********

High above the darkened clouds, a large half horse half eagle soared slowly through the air, the speed was mostly due to the three patrons he carried upon his back. An extremely large man, with a beard that went on for what seemed like miles, a crimson-eyed girl with long, curling, brown hair that was streaked with silver. The last was a sour-faced man with greasy black hair, who just so happened to be deep in thought.

It was degrading enough for Severus not to get the job as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but to be outdone by a red-eyed Egyptian Elf, was enough to make his temperment more dour than usual.

"Ouch," he grunted. The girl had once again elbowed him in the ribcage for no reason at all. "Would you stop that?" he yelled over the rushing wind. Feigning ignorance, she wisely did not start a further arguement with him and proceeded to narrow her eyes against the cold perspiration of the clouds.

He sniffed loudly and turned back to his thoughts. 'What was an Egyptian Elf doing going to Hogwart's anyway?' Egyptian elves had the tendency to be more than precocious, if it wasn't for their ennui with the world, some might consider them all seeing and all knowing. Although they could not see into the soul's of men, they could catch glimpses from time to time. He wondered what she had found out about him just from a glance...

"Wer jus' bout there!" Hagrid said lightheartedly, over the beating of the hippogriff's wings.

"Thank goodness," was the mumbled reply from the other two passengers, as the hippogriff began to make his descent to the underbelly of the dark clouds. Laurel let out her breath in a gasp.

Hogwart's was beautiful, the stones seemed warm and inviting despite the dark background of the weather. Small flashes of lightning from nearby hillsides reflected down upon the lake that surrounded part of the castle and for a brief instant she could have sworn she saw the large outline of an enormous squid and darting shapes.

Narrowing his eyes, Snape looked at her oddly. He could have sworn Egyptian elves were pompous and not easily surprised, yet here was this girl, gaping over a castle. Not to mention one so simple as Hogwart's. Somehow she felt his eyes on her and proceeded to close her mouth a bit too forcefully, causing her teeth to clack together. Snape snickered again, and she scooted further up on the hippogriff's back, uncomfortably aware of his nearness.

********

The hippogriff, wheezing from over-exerhtion, landed with an earth-shaking thud on the Quidditch field, causing everyone to lose their grip, and Laurel, being the smallest of the three, to be ditched straight over the head of Hagrid and the hippogriff Buckbeak. There was a small, "Ooof!" accompanied by a groan. Snape was the first to shakely dismount from the hippogriff, since Hagrid's legs would not allow him to dismount with someone else behind him.

Snape hurried over to where Laurel lied, this was the third time he'd found her laying on the ground since he'd met her a few hours ago. This time it didn't seem like she would be able to waltz herself back to the castle, even with his help. "Hagrid," he snapped. "Go fetch a stretcher, I can't magic it all the way from the Quidditch field, and take the hippogriff with you." Hagrid hesitated for a moment before retrieving Buckbeak and exiting the stadium.

Muttering to himself again, Snape sat cross-legged on the grass next to where Laurel's head lied and took out his wand. 'Might as well try to heal her so she's suitable for meeting with Dumbledore,' he thought absent-mindedly. He pulled her surpsingly light form across his knees and began with her wrist that was twisted at an obviously wrong angle, a simple incantation righted the wrong and he continued to look along her person.

When he looked up to her face he started, she looked so familiar to him for some reason. He paused in his work and studied her, trying to match a memory to the face. He was sure he knew it, but he would have remembered coming across an Egyptian Elf, so he continued working on the numerous scratches that adorned her face.

As he began to heal the slight scratches, he noticed and put away in his memory, little things about her. The way her eyes were shaped like almonds, how her eyelashes were black yet grew unaturally silver at the ends, the silver strands that streaked through her extraordinarily _long _hair, the way she had a natural dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose that made her out to be blushing happily all the time.

As he was glancing at her hair he noticed something extremely odd about her ears and abruptly shook her, _HARD_.

"Ahhh," she groaned, straining against his vice-like grip.

"Wake up," he said obstinately. "I said wake up - _OW_!"

Laurel had, unknown to Snape, reached behind him and pinched the back of his arm, that now hung limply at his side.

Snape just sat there and gaped as the wand slid out of his non-existent grip. Red filled his vision and he turned his wrath upon Laurel who was standing up and happily brushing off her Muggle disguise. He watched in disbelief as she began to look around for her purse, that had been kindly retrieved by Hagrid on their way into the farm from a Death Eater who was more than happy to bow down to the larger man's wishes.

"There we are!" she cooed happily, bending to swoop up her black purse from the ground. Snape still could not see straight, lest he would have hit his target already. She deliberately turned to face him and looked him up and down. "I hope you know that you deserved that Mr. Snape. That's no way to treat a lady-"

"My name is Severus Snape, and _you_ may address me as Proffesor Snape, right after you fix the _mess_ you have made of my arm!" he roared, flapping the limp appendage at her. This only proceeded to make her laugh and she spoke to him again in that lilting voice of hers.

"Oh, please forgive me Mr.- err Proffesor Snape. It is most unforgivable of me," she lamented while stifling a giggle that threatened to erupt from her throat at any moment. The sky overhead was begining to clear and she obviously wished to make her way to the castle, he could tell by the way she shifted her feet. He did a double take when he saw that she was begining to walk away from him, and he was forced to trot after her.

His loose arm flapping in the wind, Snape stepped directly in front of the path she was taking. Bewildered, she glanced icily at him and inclined her head, "Yes, Proffesor?"

There were no words for Snape to express his anger, and the only one that came out was, "NO!" Looking puzzled, she pushed some strands of his hair out of his eyes to stare into them. She could tell he was angry, and at first thought his state of handicap would humble him a bit. It however had seemed to backfire, and his eyes were positively quivering with rage.

"Alright you big baby," she sighed. "Turn around." Snape was positively taken aback.

"Turn...around?" he said slowly and deliberately. A look of impatience, came over her pretty face, darkening the air around her somehow. She nodded and waited.

"And...why my dear girl, would I do such a thing?" he said through gritted teeth. That was quite enough for Laurel however, and angrily she turned him around by force pinched his arm a quarter of an inch below it's previous mark and whirled to take another path to the Hogwart's School...which ever one that was...

The sound of thundering foot falls came up swiftly behind her, and before her mind could register the owner, Snape had her by the back of the arm and was dragging her to another one of the 6 exits.

"What - are- you - doing!?" she said painfully, holding her arm ridigly straight, as to not cause further discomfort to herself.

"My goodness Ms. Millan, you are quite the menace to society," grunted Snape, warding off a blow from her purse. "I wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong impression that you were safe to be around, so I think I'll escort you in with as much of a spectacle as possible. For safety's sake."

He laughed sharply at her indignation as she began to struggle, and he simply dragged her along, blocking blows and making sure to watch her pinching fingers at all times. As they progressed the hitting and kicking became more and more subdued until there was nothing but a sullen silence between the two of them.

"So," Severus said bitterly, as Laurel tossed her hair for the 30th time in an agitated way. "What's wrong with your ears?" Her hand stilled in her hair as she went to flip it again and she glanced suspiciously at him.

"Were you staring at me the whole time I was unconscious Snape," she said angrily. "What else did you do?" At this she tread harshly on his foot and he grabbed her tighter, growling. 

"Perhaps if you're nicer to me," Snape hissed, knowing full well what she was rudely implying. "I'll tell the story to our children one day." She gasped at his perverted and clearly untrue statement he had made, and elbowed him in the gut at which point he twisted her arm, causing her to hiss loudly. 

"So my girl-" began Snape.

"Stop calling me a girl!" she spat furiously as he dragged them ever closer to the awaiting castle. However he ignored her and continued onward, both with their movement and with his speech.

"Pardon me, _young lady_," once again she stiffened at the remark but let him continue. "Now tell me, what is wrong with your ears?" Silently her free hand went to her ears and she rubbed them. Snape continued dragging her along in silence until she broke it.

"I'm only half elf, I didn't inherit the ears. The one thing that I might have been able to hide..." she murmured as he helped her over a puddle.

Snape took in her answer without acknowledging it for a moment, and then replied, "Have you ever thought of having them hexed, or using Muggle contacts?" She slowly nodded as they began to circle the outer edge of the lake.

"The hexes don't work and my eyes glow so strongly in the dark that when covered by even the slightest obstruction such as Muggle contact lenses, they positively flame. Those were a disaster if I ever saw one," she sighed, obviously reliving a painful memory from long ago.

"So it's true," Snape mused out loud. "There _are_ no more Egyptian elves."

She turned abruptly towards him, stopping their advancement to the front of the school and glared at him.

"Of course there are more Egyptian Elves, they are only my half siblings and they are at home as we speak and if you so much as dare-" her rant spluttered to a halt as the enormous Hagrid came bounding up to them.

"Ther' ya ar'. I bin lookin' evrywhr' for y' two. Dumbldorr is 'cpecting you two, hury' alon' then!" and with that he turned to go see to Buckbeak who was standing patiently next to a large wooden cabin with smoke rising comfortably out of it's chimney.

At this announcment, the idea of the embarassing scene that might ensue, came back to Laurel and she began to fight Snape for her freedom to walk in, alone and not a "captive" - to meet Dumbledore. However Snape dodged all her tactics and kept a hold of her unceasingly all the way to the Hogwart's doors. 

Snape was quite bruised, especially in the ribcage area, as he limped up to the doors and kicked them open, dragging the hellcat inside with him. There was no one in the entry hall and for a moment Laurel could see he was crestfallen and she laughed, _loudly_. Which caused someone from the next room to come in and see the duo, and Snape to snicker.

Laurel tried to snake her hand behind Snapes back to pinch his pressure point again, but was subdued by him before she had the chance and the two struggled. She - trying like mad to get a grib of _something_ to pull, and he - trying to keep her hand behind his back until she ceased to struggle.

Proffesor McGonagall decided to investigate the noises that were disrupting her class, and clacked out into the hallway in her old-fashioned high heels. Standing there, were two people having what looked like...a fierce hugging contest. A tall woman with long dark hair in Muggle's clothing, and an even taller man in long billowing cloaks, were grunting loudly and slamming each other into walls ferociously. One of them looked oddly like...no, it couldn't be.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat, and as it resonated off the stone walls of the entry hall, the struggling ceased and the pair faced her. McGonagall put a hand to her throat as she realized that the tall man was, indeed Severus Snape, the Potions teacher for Hogwart's. "Proffesor Snape," she exclaimed. "This is quite uncharacteristic of you, I must insist that you leave that woman alone."

As Snape opened his mouth to defend himself against Minerva McGonagall, Laurel took the chance and darted out of his grasp and up the left set of staircases. Setting his mouth in a grim line, Snape yelled over his shoulder as he went running after his captive, "I'll explain later." Thousands of giggles erupted from Proffesor McGonagall's classroom and she bustled back in, chastising them all for not minding their manners and to keep out of other's business. 

********

Meanwhile, the chase ensued up the staircases, and at one point Snape had almost caught her until the staircase decided at that moment to move. Chest heaving, Laurel gasped in fright when she saw that the staircase she was on, also had moved suddenly and with a scream she fell. The staircase that was directly below her holding Snape rushed to meet her and he caught her in his outstretched arms. The staircase they were on shuddered to a halt and Snape quickly mounted it to the nearest non-moving area of the hall.

He finally looked down and noticed the young woman lying in his arms, she was shaking terribly hard and gasping for breath. She looked up through her hair at him.

"You could of killed me," she said matter-of-factly, still heaving in large breaths. He looked down his long nose at her and noticed that her eyes didn't seem red at all for a moment, they were almost...green.

"I know," he muttered, not letting her go or putting her down for fear she would run away from him again.

"You should have," she chastised him, staring unblinkingly at him as if she hadn't just said that he should have let her die. "If He ever finds out you will surely be killed. What are you doing here Death Eater?" 

A puzzled and dark look crept over his face and for a while he just stood there. Holding the young woman in his arms made him feel... different. He wasn't used to this, he wasn't ready for this... then a small voice crept into his head, 'Why not? When were you _ever_ ready, when will enough time pass when you will be _ready_? When will the lies stop?'

Stiffening, he lowered the young woman to the ground and took her arm once agan, this time much gentler and mumbled, "I have no idea what you're talking about." He led her towards the staircases to take her to see Dumbledore as she thought sadly to herslef, 'As you wish Severus...'

********

NEXT IS CHAPTER 3! YAY! R/R FOR CHAPTER 2 PLEASE :) THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS THUS FAR! :) 


	3. Chatter Boxes

Chapter 3

J.K. ROWLING owns all characters except for Laurel who I created myself, I am not doing this for money, only the pure enjoyment of the thing. So ends my lame little disclaimer, okay? Don't sue!

More introductions, background info, and angst and romance around the corner people! R/R please :)

********

She'd never known eyes so kind. As she breathlessly gripped Albus Dumbledore's hand with her own, she was thankful to be in the wake of their glow once again. She had a peculiar affinity for people with kind eyes, and she smiled cheerfully at the Headmaster.

"Dumbledore," Laurel heaved, she was still out of breath from her physical and mental exertions on the moving staircases. She jerked her arm pointedly out of Snape's grip. "I'm so pleased you thought of me for the position here at the school." There was a loud disconcerted snort from behind her, but she continued to ignore it's sullen owner and focused her mind on Dumbledore.

His eyes twinkled at the pair of them, he was obviously curious about their state of disarray, and particularly of Snape's mental sanity.

"Ahh, Laurel," he said jovially. "It's so good to see, why I haven't seen you since you were a girl! It seems as if you have simply blossomed overnight." Snape grudgingly flicked his eyes over Laurel's perfect form and back again without letting on to his fellow companions.

"I'm afraid that I had a bit of... trouble, arriving on time," she said discreetly. At this Snape began to look at the rows of sleeping Headmasters portrait's that lined the walls, each one was snoring louder than the next. Laurel's glance flickered to where Snape stood, totally engrossed in the sleeping paintings, and then back to Dumbledore again.

Sensing her meaning he assured her, "Severus is a spy within the Dark Lord's circle, I trust him wholeheartedly." At this announcement, Laurel was tempted to look at Snape once again to be reassured of who he was speaking of, but kept her eyes focused on Dumbledore. "He's the one who tipped us off to your kidnapping, he was the Death Eater assigned to intercept your owls."

She was quite reluctant to say any words of encouragement, but thought that thanks was in order. 'I'll do it later,' her mind noted very vaguely. Being able to restrain her eyes was hard, restraining her tongue was _even harder_. She turned to Dumbledore and blurted, "Well they barely got there in time, perhaps my owls could be intercepted a bit _quicker_ next time?"

At this comment, the sleeping portrait Snape was "admiring" - blurred, and his vision was once again, becoming tinged with red. He gathered his cloaks up around him and stomped over to where Laurel stood, a mischievous grin decorating her heart-shaped face. Dumbledore simply widened his eyes in slight alarm as Snape opened his mouth to unleash his verbal anger upon her. Then - the most amazing thing happened.

Laurel reached up and hugged Snape.

A look of utter disbelief and horror, washed over Snape's face all in one moment and Dumbledore couldn't hold in a snort of laughter. The poor man looked positively traumatized, not to mention pink in the cheeks at such an outward display of affection. If that wasn't bad enough, Snape almost went into cardiac arrest when Laurel gently leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Headmaster," began Laurel calmly, after disengaging herself from Snape. "Where is my room?" Snape was still standing rigidly in his primary position next to Laurel, he had lost the use of his vocal chords for some strange reason, and was swallowing profusely.

Dumbledore gestured to a piece of parchment that flew into his hand, and he handed it to Laurel. "Just follow the little red dot, you're room is in the first sector of the dungeon." She smiled gratefully at Dumbledore and lifted her purse from it's position on the floor, where she'd dropped it after "thanking" Snape.

She turned to leave and was bewildered to see Severus, still standing where he was. After the way she had acted towards him, she was expecting at least a little bit of anger from him. To her surprise, he just stood there, swaying slightly from side to side and feeling his face, which had turned the color of Laurel's eyes. She furrowed her brow and walked towards him to say goodbye again, he didn't even move when she accidentally walked too close to him, so she backed away a little.

"Thank you, Proffesor Snape," she said kindly. "I hope to see you at breakfeast in the Great Hall tomorrow?" Laurel didn't notice Snape's lip curl in a tiny smile as she glanced down at her parchment for the location of the Great Hall. When she looked up it was gone, replaced by the blank look that had been occupying his face.

She looked curiously at him once again, and proceeded to exit the office in her usual grace. As the door clicked shut behind her, Snape began to breath again. Dumbledore and Snape stood in silence for a long time then, neither knowing what to say. Dumbledore went around to the other side of his desk and sat down, clearing his throat slowly. He glanced up once again to see Snape still standing where he had been 5 minutes earlier.

"Headmaster?" Snape finally spoke.

"Yes, Severus?" was Dumbledore's expectant reply.

"Did that woman attack me?" he asked darkly.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in a surprised expression, answering, "Not that I was aware of Severus. Why do you ask?"

Snape shook his head and muttered, "Nothing...nothing..."

Another 5 minutes had passed when once again Snape called out Dumbledore's name.

Dumbledore looked attentively over his glasses at Snape, "What is it Severus?"

"Could you perhaps perform a simple memory spell, I seem to have forgotten how to use my legs?"

********

The sound of scurrying could be heard coming from Laurel's room as she approached, causing her to frown. Who was in her room? She flung open the door with all her might and furiously swept the room with her eyes.

She saw near her bed, the cause of the noise. Two small elves had been warming her sheets for her arrival. She gasped in surprise and dropped her purse on the stone-covered floor of the chamber.

The elves in turn gasped also. Both parties stood in silence, giving the other a once over.

"Hei-" she cleared her throat. "Hello, I'm Laurel." The miniature elves just gave each other terrified looks and proceeded to inch their way along the outer edge of the room towards the door. "Do you speak English?" she tried again and again. "Parlez-vous français? Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Parlate italiano?"

The little elves merely squeaked in protest when she leaned down and offered her hand to them in friendship. Laurel groaned inwardly and was wondering why she was so "scary" to everyone around her. She moved aside with a sigh, obviously knowing that they wished to leave without speaking to or touching her for that matter. The two elves rushed by her quickly and out the door, one wore a tea cozy and the other wore a maroon-colored sweater with a large W knitted across the front of it.

She thought to herself about unpacking but realized that all her bags had been on the iron bird that had in fact, been taken by the same terrified human hostages that had left the moment the Death Eaters had dissaparated.

She shivered, and was a tad bit annoyed at herself to see that the little elves had not been able to succeed in their duties due to her untimely entrance into the chamber. She was too proud to knock on a fellow teacher's door to ask for a robe or nightgown of some sort-

The first five minutes she lied in the large bed anyway.

She grumbled and slid her feet back into her dirtied sandals, she liked having her feet free. When she wore shoes it was as if she couldn't even breath, much less walk. Tripping over a trash can, her face twisted into a grimace as she reached her door and unlatched it. Standing out in the hall, she wasn't quite sure whether to knock on the teacher's quarter to the right or to the left. She ultimately went left when she realized it was the only one with a light on anyway.

Hopping in place to keep warm, she knocked impatiently on the unsuspecting teacher's door and waited expectantly. There was a loud, obnoxious sigh as the door was opened and she looked up to greet- Snape.

"Oh," she said a little too downfallen. In turn, Snape's eyes narrowed in disbelief at the young woman knocking on his door at the dead of night. Not that he was doing anything important, just flunking a few annoying Gryffindors, but apart from that he was frustrated in a way no woman could understand.

"Ms. Millan," he said with the slightest touch of disdain. "May I help you? I'm sure you can find the Great Hall very well on your own-" he stopped his bitter diatribe however when he saw the state she was in. Hair more unruly than ever, cheeks flushed, and her teeth chattering uncontrollably. He opened his mouth of invite her in to warm herself, but was interrupted by her quavering voice.

"I know you don't like me very much," she said shaking. "But could I please, perhaps, borrow some sort of night clothing? I'm afraid I've left all mine on the iron bird that was taken by the Muggles."

For the first time since she'd met the Professor, his eyes softened slightly and he moved aside. Laurel's eyes widened and she hopped into the warm chamber happily.

"Th-th-th-tha-th-" she began to chatter.

"Stop right there," Snape said gruffly, striding over to his minimal wardrobe. "Here," he muttered while shuffling through the wardrobe. "Take this."

He tossed an extremely large purple dressing gown towards her general direction, and her gaze followed it as it landed at her feet. Looking up, she noticed his eyes narrowing slightly and she hesitantly averted her eyes back to the dressing gown, quickly picking it up.

"I appreciate your kindness Proffesor Snape," Laurel spoke quickly. "It will be most helpful tonight." She turned to go, her dirt-ridden sandals shuffling across the floor. She heard a disgruntled noise as she slid across the stone covered floor to the door.

Snape's words stopped her in her tracks however.

"Here." he said roughly. Turning she saw him holding out a large fur-trimmed blanket. Smiling brightly she came over to him as gracefully as she could and relinquished it from his hold.

"Thank you," Laurel murmured, her eyes shining happily. Snape just motioned towards the door as he sat down at his desk once again and picked up random papers, shuffling them as he muttered.

It was only when she was closing the door to Snape's chambers when she saw his bed, blanketless. Hesitating she debated on whether or not to enter again and argue over his decision to give her his only source of warmth on this cold evening besides a dying fire.

However, his demeanor suggested she rile against the feeling. It was probably not many times when he would be inclined to be as chivalrous as he was. Smiling softly, Laurel clicked the chamber door shut and mouthed, "Thank you." She turned away and walked discreetly into her cold housing facility.

From somewhere inside the room she had previously exited, a shivering Snape grinned and chattered, "Your welcome."  


********

NEXT IS CHAPTER 4! YAY! R/R FOR CHAPTER 2 PLEASE :) THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS THUS FAR! :) 


	4. Terrible Beauty

Chapter 4

J.K. ROWLING owns all characters except for Laurel who I created myself, I am not doing this for money, only the pure enjoyment of the thing. So ends my lame little disclaimer, okay? Don't sue!

Romance rising action. R/R please :)

********

Laurel woke up warm and comfortable. Eyes squinting against the watery light of day, she tried to roll out from under the heavy weight that lied upon her. Attempting to open her eyes again proved futile, and she settled with feeling what was on top of her. Soft, furry, large...

'The fur-trimmed blanket Snape loaned me...' her haggard mind thought. She smiled widely to herself and rolled out from under it's heavy weight, but immediately leapt back on top of it when her bare feet came in contact with the cold stone flooring.

"Brrr!" was the only thing that escaped her lips, besides her breath that was visible inside of the cold chamber. Resting on her stomach atop the high bed, she tried to hold back the large mass of purple nightgown she was adorned in.

"Purple nightgown?" she mused aloud. 'Oh yes," she thought again. 'Another gift of Snape's, he can't be _all_ evil!' She sighed and rolled her shoulder once before making a grab for her filthy sandals just a few inches from her outstretched hand. Straining vigorously she stopped with a sudden cough, the air was freezing her lungs and it was hard to bear.

She sat with her legs folded underneath herself, trying to figure out what to do. She _could_ make a run for the rest room that was naught 15 feet away from where she rested. However, she could not be sure of the conditions of the flooring in there either. She sat for a few more moments in chilly silence.

"I need something longer than my arm! How foolish of me," she said, chastising herself aloud.

Stretching the morning kinks out of her long leg, she laid down on her stomach once again. This time she faced away from her intended quarry and stretched with all her might. She felt her pinky toe brush the tiny strap of her sandal and she pinched at it desperately, her eyebrows knit in concentration.

Then without a missing a beat, the soft, smooth, _slippery_ blanket that had been warming her the night before, began to give way. Beneath her weight it descended in a sort of slither towards the floor and a small, "Oh!" of surprise escaped her lips, as she felt her foot and then her body make contact with the cold floor.

She let out a shrill shriek of indignation, as her skin was covered in pimply goosebumps. The large furry blanket, having now caused an avalanche effect of sorts, had also made it's descent upon her. The attack upon her senses was followed by the heavy blankets and sheets that had now turned from friend to foe, overnight. 

She was in complete darkness as she writhed in the large mass of bed coverings. Grumbling and gasping as she somehow managed to kick herself in the arm. She heard the sound of rapidly approaching foot falls and tried desperately to untangle herself from her self imposed war, but only managed to be drawn in further.

There was a rapid pounding on the door and a voice floated through the air, "Laurel? What's going on in there?!" Squeaking in fear she tried madly to undo her embarrassing predicament.

"Nothing! Go away, everything's fine here! Please - just go away!" she cried desperately, kicking herself in her other arm.

The echo of the other person's voice was lost as she struggled. She paused in time to hear the door being violently rocked, someone was trying to break down the door!

"What are you doing!?" was her muffled yell, as she tried one last attempt to unfurl herself from the bedlam by standing up. This proved fatal to her labors and she toppled back onto the floor, gasping for air, her cheeks red with adrenaline and soon to be, embarrasment.

The sound of the latch breaking as the door was hit once again, resonated through the chamber, as did the noise of it slamming against the wall. Ceasing her struggle, she lied still and heard the puzzled sounds being made by the unwelcome intruder.

The next moment there was a burst of sunlight as she was rolled out of the large blankets in one harsh flip. Landing with a loud, "Oof!" Laurel shook her head slowly and looked up from her back _once again_, at Severus Snape. She'd never seen him smile before and wasn't quite sure if she ever would want to again. His gaze was simple scrutiny no matter _how_ his lips accompanied them.

"Well my lady," Snape said bemusedly. "Glad to see you're up bright and early this morning. I was sent to check on you by Dumbledore, seems you have overslept. You musn't be late for your first breakfeast, it's required you make your appearance known, as to not scare the children."

He turned halfway toward the door and snickered, "And might I suggest that you impeach your modesty a bit more around the students Proffesor Laurel?" The world was still spinning as she dragged the purple nightgown back down to her hips, glaring defiantly at him. "I do not believe classes that require such... visual aids, are not given to anyone but 7th years at Hogwart's."

At that she opened her mouth to speak but was cut off abruptly by Snape once again, "I will wait for you in my chamber Proffesor, and please, would you mind taking better care of my property next time I loan it to you?" Surveying the tangled heap of the blanket on the floor, and the rip in the purple nightgown that hung limply from her shoulder.

Snape allowed himself a malicious grin, his black robes billowing enormously behind him as he fled the chamber. It was wise to be out of there before Laurel could gather her wits about her again. He knew better than anyone at Hogwart's that crossing her could prove fatal.

********

Never had Laurel felt her blood boil to such a high degree as it did now. The embarrasment she suffered from his hands was more than she could bear, and to have him see her dressed in _underwear?_ The thought almost made her weep. However, Laurel came from a long line of strong elves, and she was determined to uphold both her own and their honor.

Giving herself a mental shake, Laurel donned the Muggle clothing that she had been forced to wear when riding the _Iron Bird_. She winced at the smell that arose from them, and grudingly put them on. She could hardly stand the smell of herself, how would others fair while meeting her?

She sighed and shook her head in self-pity. Laurel straightened her spine once again however, and marched to the chamber door which was unusually ajar. She took notice of the broken latch and the adrenaline of rage began to creep into her blood and into her eyes. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror by the door, she saw that they were glowing.

Laurel was on the war path.

********

Severus was calmly rearranging his set of eagle feather quills when there was a loud crash from behind him. Whirling in self-defense he grabbed his wand to take aim at the suspect.

Laurel stood in his door way. 'Obviously furious,' Snape regarded in complete delight. The white streaks in her hair stood out more prominently due to it's unruly state once again. Her skin was glowing with the hue of fresh-picked peaches, and her eyes- her eyes were positively flaming.

Snape swallowed slowly. Half in fear and half in awe he stood there shaking. 'There is nothing more terrible or more beautiful,' his mind thought unbidden. 'Then an angry Egyptian Elf." She surveyed him fiercely and jerked her head in the direction of the empty corridor behind her.

"Let's go eat," she commanded. With that, he followed the sound of her lightning quick footsteps all the way up to the Great Hall, for her welcoming breakfeast.

********

NEXT IS CHAPTER 5! YAY! R/R PLEASE :) THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS THUS FAR! :) 


	5. Awakening

FONT FACE="VERDANA" SIZE="2" COLOR="RED"  
  
CENTER  
  
CURRENTLY WRITING THIS CHAPTER- MAY REVAMP PREVIOUS CHAPTERS TO MAKE CHARACTER  
  
DEVELOPMENT A BIT MORE BELIVABLE. WARNING: WILL BE RATED R IN A MATTER OF DAYS.  
  
/CENTER 


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